Cop-Killing Ex-Black Panther to Give College Commencement Address

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Photo Credit: AP / Chris GardnerA convicted cop killer and former Black Panther whose case helped to derail one of President Obama’s top nominees has been chosen to give the commencement address at a Vermont college.

Mumia Abu-Jamal has been selected by undergraduate students at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont, as their commencement speaker on Sunday.

Abu-Jamal was convicted in the 1981 slaying of Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner. He was originally sentenced to death, but his sentence was reduced on appeal to life imprisonment.

The inmate’s notoriety helped to sink the nomination earlier this month of Debo Adegbile, who was Mr. Obama’s choice to lead the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department. Mr. Adegbile had helped to represent Abu Jamal’s case on appeal while working at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

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Health Fiasco: Ebola Patient was Vomiting in Ambulance, Five Children Exposed from 4 Different Schools, Took at Least 3 Flights

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Photo Credit: WNDWHO: No Ebola Vaccine Before Mid-2015

By Jerome R. Corsi.

The World Health Organization said Wednesday that the manufacture, financing and distribution of a large-scale Ebola vaccine is not possible until the middle of next year at the earliest.

WHO is expediting Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials on two highly promising experimental Ebola vaccines, hoping to obtain approval next February.

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control reported the first case of the current strain of Ebola brought to the U.S. by a traveler.

“The Ebola outbreak currently ravaging parts of West Africa is the most severe acute public health emergency in modern times,” WHO said in a statement issued from Geneva.

“Never before in recent history has a biosafety level 4 pathogen infected so many people so quickly, over such a wide geographical area, for so long.”

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Photo Credit: FacebookPictured: First Ebola patient diagnosed on American soil. Texas governor Rick Perry reveals schoolchildren from FOUR different schools have been exposed and 18 Americans could be infected

By Louise Boyle.

Schoolchildren in Texas may be at risk from Ebola today after five children who attend four different Dallas schools came in close contact with the first patient diagnosed with the deadly virus on U.S. soil.

Officials said on Wednesday that the students were in school this week after possibly being in contact with the patient over the weekend when he had become contagious with the deadly virus.

The Ebola patient was named today as Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian national in his mid-forties, who had traveled to the U.S. from Liberia on September 20 to visit his family.

His sister Mai Wureh said her sick brother told officials the first time he went to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on September 26 that he was visiting from a West African country in the so-called ‘Ebola hot zone’ – but was sent home with antibiotics, a critically-missed opportunity to prevent others being exposed to the disease.

Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Mike Miles said on Wednesday that the children who came in contact with Mr Duncan are showing no symptoms and are now being monitored at home.

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Photo Credit: WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort WorthOfficials: Second person being monitored for Ebola

By Marjorie Owens.

Health officials are closely monitoring a possible second Ebola patient who had close contact with the first person to be diagnosed in the U.S., the director of Dallas County’s health department said Wednesday.

All who have been in close contact with the man officially diagnosed are being monitored as a precaution, Zachary Thompson, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services, said in a morning interview with WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth.

“Let me be real frank to the Dallas County residents: The fact that we have one confirmed case, there may be another case that is a close associate with this particular patient,” he said. “So this is real. There should be a concern, but it’s contained to the specific family members and close friends at this moment.”

The director continued to assure residents that the public isn’t at risk because health officials have the virus contained.

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Wary of Ebola, Dallas parents pull kids from school

By Bill Hanna.

Parents rushed to get their children from school Wednesday after learning that five students may have had contact with the Ebola patient in a Dallas hospital, as Gov. Rick Perry and other leaders reassured the public that there is no cause for alarm.

The patient, identified by The Associated Press as Thomas Eric Duncan of Liberia, arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 20 to visit family. Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Zachary Thompson said county officials suspect that 12 to 18 people may have had contact with Duncan.

“Right now, the base number is 18 people, and that could increase,” he said. Thompson said more details are expected by Thursday afternoon. The number includes five students at four schools, Dallas school district Superintendent Mike Miles said.

“This case is serious,” Perry said during a news conference at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, where Duncan is being treated. “Rest assured that our system is working as it should. Professionals on every level on the chain of command know what to do to minimize this potential risk to the people of Texas and of this country.”

Miles said DISD officials learned Wednesday morning that five students at four different schools — Tasby Middle School, L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary School, Dan D. Rogers Elementary and Conrad High School — had come in contact with Duncan. Lowe Elementary is also being watched because it connects to Tasby.

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Top doc: ‘Several people were exposed,’ more will be infected by Dallas Ebola case

By Paul Bedard.

A former Food and Drug Administration chief scientist and top infectious disease specialist said that several people were exposed to the Ebola virus by the unidentified patient in Dallas, America’s first case, and it’s likely that many more will be infected.

Dr. Jesse L. Goodman, now a professor of medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center, said while the nation shouldn’t panic, it’s best to prepare for the worst.

“It is quite appropriate to be concerned on many fronts,” he said in a statement provided to Secrets. “First, it is a tragedy for the patient and family and, as well, a stress to contacts, health care workers and the community at large. Second, it appears several people were exposed before the individual was placed in isolation, and it is quite possible that one or more of his contacts will be infected,” he added.

What’s more, he conceded that it was “only a matter of time” that the swift-killing African virus arrived in the U.S.

“If anyone did not agree before, bringing the epidemic in Africa under control is an absolute emergency and requires a massive effort and global commitment now long overdue. This is a matter not just of preventing death and suffering in Africa, but, as this case brings home to the U.S., of global safety and security,” he warned.

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WH: ‘Screening Procedures In Place At Our Border’

By Daniel Halper.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters today that, after the Ebola case in Dallas, the Obama administration reminded border law enforcment agencies of “protocol” to deal with people that appear to have symptoms of Ebola. Earnest also said that there “are screening procedures in place at our border.”

“[I]n light of this incident,” Earnest said at his daily briefing, “the administration has taken the step of recirculating our guidance to law enforcement agencies that are responsible for securing the border, to those agencies that represent individuals who staff the airline industry, and to medical professionals all across the country to make sure that people are aware that there is an important protocol that should be implemented if an individual presents with symptoms that are consistent with Ebola.”

The statement came up in addressing the Dallas case, as the person infected there reportedly had been traveling in Africa.

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Thousands from Ebola Nations Allowed to Enter U.S. Without Additional Screening

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By Brandon Darby.

Over 3,500 passengers from Ebola affected nations have been allowed to enter the U.S. without any special screening since January 1, 2014, according to a leaked internal intelligence report from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Intelligence and Liaison exclusively obtained by Breitbart Texas. In addition, the individuals entered into at least 18 heavily populated U.S. cities across the nation.

The leaked report specifically reads, “According to CBP [Customs and Border Protection] data, since January 1, 2014 to June 30, 2014, a total of 3,566 passengers with a nexus to Guinea transited through or arrived at U.S. airports.” The term “nexus” refers to passengers who flew from the Ebola stricken nation to a second nation, and then from the second nation into the United States. Guinea is attributed as the nation of origin for the current Ebola outbreak.

The lack of any special processes or testing for individuals with a nexus to Ebola affected nations is illumined in the leaked internal report as well. It reads, “The Level 3 travel alert issued by the CDC on July 31st remains in effect as of August 13, 2014. The travel alert urges all US residents to avoid nonessential travel to Guinea. Although CBP is not doing any additional screening of passengers from the affected countries, CBP has enhanced their screening routine processes through guidance and training. Additionally, CDC is providing assistance with exit screening and communication efforts in West Africa to prevent sick travelers from boarding planes.”

Ebola Doc

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesMissouri Doctor: ‘It’s Just A Matter Of Time Before [Ebola] Is Carried To Every Corner Of The World’

By Dom Giordano.

Dom Giordano talked with Dr. Gil Mobley, who believes the CDC is lying about the threat posed by Ebola and staged a protest at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport to expose it.

Mobley, a doctor in Missouri, is convinced that Ebola will soon be infecting people all over the globe.

“For months, doctors in my community — since we had a meeting six weeks ago — have been convinced that the United States will be importing clusters regularly. Right now, on the continent of West Africa, there are a million people in isolation, in quarantine, because of Ebola, and ten thousand passengers leave West Africa every single day. It’s just a matter of time before this disease is carried to every corner of the world.”

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Patient Being Evaluated for Possible Ebola at D.C.’s Howard University Hospital

By NBC Washington.

A patient is being evaluated for Ebola at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., a hospital spokesperson confirmed Friday.

That person has been admitted to the hospital in stable condition and is isolated. The medical team is working with the CDC and other authorities to monitor the patient’s condition.

“In an abundance of caution, we have activated the appropriate infection control protocols, including isolating the patient,” said hospital spokesperson Kerry-Ann Hamilton in a statement. “Our medical team continues to evaluate and monitor progress in close collaboration with the CDC and the Department of Health.”

Hamilton did not share further details about the patient, citing privacy reasons, but said the hospital will provide updates as warranted.

In a White House briefing Friday, Sylvia Burwell, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, said of the Howard case, “What you see are people taking precautions.”

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Photo Credit: APCrew disinfects home where Ebola patient stayed

By Associated Press.

A hazardous-materials crew on Friday decontaminated the Texas apartment where an Ebola patient was staying when he got sick, while public-health officials cut by half the number of people being monitored for any symptoms of the deadly disease.

Hours later, the family that was living in the apartment was moved to a private residence in a gated community that was offered by a volunteer.

The decontamination team was to collect bed sheets, towels and a mattress used by the infected man before he was hospitalized, as well as a suitcase and other personal items belonging to Thomas Eric Duncan, officials said.

The materials were sealed in industrial barrels that were to be stored in trucks until they can be hauled away for permanent disposal.

Federal transportation and disease-control officials issued an emergency special permit Friday to allow an Illinois-based company to haul away and dispose of the materials — not only from the apartment but also any from the hospital where Duncan is receiving treatment.

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ISIS Beheads ANOTHER Hostage, Threatens to Kill American War Vet-Turned-Aid-Worker Next

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Photo Credit: APBy Jon Gambrell and Jill Lawless.

An Internet video released Friday purports to show an Islamic State group fighter beheading British hostage Alan Henning, the fourth such killing carried out by the extremist group now targeted in U.S.-led airstrikes.

The video mirrored other beheading videos shot by the Islamic State group, which now holds territory along the border of Syria and Iraq, and ended with a militant threatening a man they identified as an American named Peter Kassig.

“Obama, you have started your aerial bombardment of Shams (Syria), which keeps on striking our people, so it is only right that we continue to strike the neck of your people,” the masked militant in the video said.

National Security Council Spokesperson Caitlin Hayden confirmed that Kassig was being held by Islamic State militants, in a statement issued Friday evening.

“At this point we have no reason to doubt the authenticity of the video released earlier today. We will continue to use every tool at our disposal — military, diplomatic, law enforcement and intelligence – to try to bring Peter home to his family,” Hayden said.

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‘We will bring them to justice’: Obama promises revenge as ISIS executioner Jihadi John beheads British aid worker and threatens to kill American war vet-turned-aid-worker next in horrific video

By WILLS ROBINSON and CHRIS PLEASANCE.

ISIS have threatened to execute an American war veteran after Jihadi John beheaded British aid worker Alan Henning.

Peter Kassig, 26, a former Army Ranger from Indianapolis, was shown kneeling in the desert at the end of the video of the murder posted online by the terror group.

During the video, the masked militant sends a message to President Obama admitting that U.S. ‘aerial bombardments’ are putting them under strain, before adding: ‘It’s only right we continue to strike the necks of your people.’

Mr Henning, a 47-year-old father-of-two, was kidnapped on Boxing Day last year as he delivered aid to Syrian refugees.

The clip, which is in English with Arabic subtitles, shows Jihadi John stepping forward to cut Mr Henning’s throat before the screen turns black, then shows his body lying on the desert floor.

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In Partisan Pitch, Obama Tells Hispanics ‘I Need You to Have My Back’

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Photo Credit: AP / Jacquelyn MartinWith frustration mounting, President Barack Obama sought Thursday to quell doubts he’ll use his presidential powers to act on immigration, telling Hispanics and immigration activists it’s “not a question of if but when.”

At the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s annual gala, Obama warned activists that his eventual actions will spark intense political opposition that could threaten the durability of what he does. In a partisan pitch a month before Election Day, he urged Hispanics across the U.S. to use their votes to improve prospects in the future for a legislative fix.

“The moment I act — and it will be taking place between the November election and the end of the year — opponents of reform will roll out the same old scare tactics,” Obama said. “When opponents are out there saying who knows what, I’m going to need you to have my back.”

Once hailed as a champion for Hispanic rights, Obama’s relationship with the Hispanic community has become strained since he decided last month to abandon his earlier pledge to act quickly after summer’s end to help some immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. Instead, he said he’d wait until after the Nov. 4 elections, exasperating immigration activists who accused the president of putting politics ahead of their families and said they had waited far too long already

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GAO: DHS Flew Drones for 1,726 Hours Over Interior of U.S.

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Photo Credit: AP / John MillerThe Department of Homeland Security flew drones equipped with video cameras over the United States–away from border and coastal areas–for 1,726 hours from fiscal 2011 through this April, according to the Government Accountability Office.

At times, the drones–or Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)–were being used for purposes other than border or immigration enforcement. But the GAO does not have a full accounting of when and where the drones were flown, or what they were used for during the flight hours spent in “other airspace.”

In a series of briefing slides provided in August to the staffs of the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees on homeland security (and publicly released this week), the GAO examined whether DHS’s use of drones complied with U.S. privacy and civil liberty laws. In the slides, the GAO noted that DHS border patrol drones, which are primarily used to “support border security operations,” were sometimes flown away from the border “in support of other federal, state or local law enforcement activities and for emergency humanitarian efforts.”

“DHS’s review reported that CBP operates UAS in accordance with its authorities, which do not limit use to border and coastal areas,” the GAO reported on briefing slide No. 2. “The location of UAS operations is limited by FAA requirements and CPB policies and procedures.”

These flights included missions to “provide aerial support for local law enforcement activities and investigations,” to agencies including the FBI and multi-agency task forces, and to “provide aerial support for monitoring natural disasters,” the report added on slide No. 11.

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More U.S. Troops Being Sent to Battle Ebola

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Photo Credit: Dominique Faget, AFP / Getty By Tom Vanden Brook and David Jackson.

As Obama administration officials sought to reassure Americans about efforts to contain Ebola in the wake of the first U.S. case, the military announced Friday that an additional 1,000 troops could be sent to West Africa to help fight the virus.

And that number could go higher than that, said Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary.

“I’m not going to put a floor or ceiling on this,” Kirby said.

President Obama initially ordered 3,000 troops to West Africa to help build hospitals, labs and treatment centers and provide logistics help. They are not going to treat Ebola victims.

“We are not going to be in the treatment business,” Kirby said.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: WNDDOGS EAT EBOLA VICTIMS, SPREAD PLAGUE

By JEROME R. CORSI.

A horrifying threat has surfaced in the fight West Africans are waging against the epidemic of Ebola – dogs digging up corpses of virus victims and feasting on the remains, then carrying the infection with them wherever they go next.

A recent report in the Mail Online in the U.K. said villagers in Liberia were complaining dogs were found digging up the corpses of Ebola victims buried in shallow graves and eating them in the street.

“Furious residents of Johnsonville Township, outside capital Monrovia, raised the alarm after packs of wild dogs were spotted digging up corpses from a specially designated ‘Ebola graveyard,’ dragging them into the open and feeding on their flesh,” the Mail Online noted.

“Now fears are mounting that the dogs – which cannot grow sick from the strain of Ebola running rampant through West Africa but can carry it – will be able to pass it on to humans through licking or biting.”

A YouTube video documented the problem with dogs eating corpses of buried Ebola-infected dead in Johnsonville Township.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Rand Paul: Imagine ship full of U.S. soldiers with Ebola

By BOB UNRUH.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a licensed physician and a possible presidential candidate in 2016, is warning that handling Ebola in a politically correct manner will rebound.

In an interview with radio talk show host Laura Ingraham, he said decisions such as keeping travel open from Africa and sending soldiers to fight Ebola “have been dominated by political correctness.”

“Because of political correctness, we’re not making sound, rational, scientific decisions on this,” he said.

Joinging the program by telephone from the campaign trail for Republicans, he started with a quip.

“I can’t believe that you don’t think it’s enough of a plan to prevent worldwide pandemic to cough into your elbow,” he told Ingraham. “Surely that should stop a worldwide pandemic.”

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Kudos to Panetta for Telling Truth About Obama and Iraq

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Photo Credit: Cliff OwenFormer CIA Director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s new memoir, “Worthy Fights,” promises to be much like other books from former Obama administration officials. It will provide insight normally reserved until after a president leaves office.

Panetta couldn’t wait. Like former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, he wants to get his side of the story out there before it’s cast in concrete by sycophants who will write their own versions of events in books lauding Obama’s handling of virtually everything he’s touched since becoming president.

Kudos to Panetta for revealing how Obama’s inner circle sabotaged any chance to leave a residual military force in Iraq in 2011. Iraq, the United States and allies throughout the region and indeed the world are now caught up in the consequences. ISIS, born from the ashes of Al Qaeda in Iraq, is now a force the world must deal with.

In his book Panetta says he argued behind the scenes for a small number of troops to be left to continue training Iraq’s military. To no avail. “Those on our side viewed the White House as so eager to rid itself of Iraq that it was willing to withdraw rather than lock in arrangements that would preserve our influence and interests,” he writes. It was politics at its best.

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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: Corporations That ‘Sponsor Climate Lies’ Should Get ‘Death Penalty’

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Photo Credit: NewscomIn an op-ed published earlier this week for EcoWatch, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. called for all organizations that “deliberately, purposefully, maliciously and systematically sponsor climate lies” to undergo the corporate equivalent of the death penalty.

“This can be accomplished through an existing legal proceeding known as ‘charter revocation,’” Kennedy wrote. “State Attorneys General can invoke this remedy whenever corporations put their profit-making before the ’public welfare.’”

He likens organizations that produce research promoting job-creating industries, like The Heritage Foundation, to the tobacco industry:

Like the Tobacco Institute and CTR, these front groups are snake pits for sociopaths. Run by venomous carbon industry toadies, they stable a craven menagerie of propaganda wizards, slick biostitutes, tobacco scientists, snake oil hucksters, voodoo economists and other so called “experts” employed to publish beguiling studies, appear on TV and radio, and write deceptive articles critiquing the “flawed science” predicting climate change.

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BLM Employees Charged Taxpayers $799,000 for 'Gift Cards'

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Wildfire management employees at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) used government charge cards to by $799,000 worth of gift cards from vendors such as REI, American Express, FredMeyer and Visa, according to a report released Sept. 30 by the Interior Department’s Office of the Inspector General.

When investigators requested supporting documentation such as purchase orders, receipts, and authorizing signatures, BLM staff claimed that they were “missing,” according to the report.

The inspector general describes widespread misuse of government-issued charge cards at the agency, making the “purchase card program susceptible to fraud, waste, and abuse.”

In 2010, BLM conducted an agency-wide audit of the purchase card program. Auditors traced $70,000 of the undocumented purchases to the Idaho State Office, where one employee was found to have purchased personal items and gift cards totalling $41,276.33.

In May 2011, the investigation resulted in the suspension of BLM employee Maria Gilbert’s government credit card. On Sept. 13, 2013 Gilbert was charged with one count of theft of government funds between 2007 and 2011, to which she pleaded guilty.

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